Masterpieces

Almost three decades after its premiere, British playwright Sarah Daniels' daring dark comedy remains pertinent and powerful and is recognised as a seminal example of feminist theatre

This angry and defiant play opens on three couples having dinner in a restaurant, exchanging sexist jokes

The response is varied ...

Some of them laugh uproariously

Some of them uncomfortably

And one is deeply unhappy

Their domestic discussion about the morality of pornography is suddenly amplified a thousand-fold in the next scene in which Rowena is on trial for murder

She had just been to see a 'snuff' film in which a porn actress is actually mutilated and killed on screen

And on her way home she's approached and harassed by a man who she ends up pushing under a train

The play is the story of Rowena's journey ... from seeing a porn magazine for the first time to a thwarted attempt to help an unhappy prostitute, from uncomfortable laughter to radical and disgusted protest at female subjugation

REVIEWS

"A very powerful evening of theatre . . . Miss Daniels has established herself as a distinct voice with real theatrical flair" ~ Michael Coveney, Financial Times

"Ultimately powerful and deeply disturbing . . . I came out overwhelmed by the sincerity of Sarah Daniels's writing in her play Masterpieces, a play that finally adds up to the most persuasive argument I've heard for banning pornography" ~ Manchester Evening News

"The play has bite, anger and tenacity and many of its arguments are true . . . The supreme merit of Ms Daniels's combative work is that it makes me want to argue back" ~ Michael Billington, Guardian

"A writer with a natural talent for disturbance" ~ Observer